Soon.
Jeff Passan has a piece at ESPN about what the Royals are looking for from Jac Caglianone before a promotion.
For the most part, yes. Before his promotion to Triple-A, the Royals impressed upon the 22-year-old Caglianone the importance of swinging at the right pitches. Caglianone is so talented, so dexterous in his bat-to-ball skills and, above all, so capable of performing at elite levels in spite of them that there’s a compelling argument that he belongs in the big leagues regardless of his flaws. The counterargument — that not only is Caglianone chasing too much still, but his two-strike chase rate this year has jumped to 49.2%, the sort of thing major league pitchers will happily exploit — is one the Royals believe worth addressing before any promotion.
Picollo doesn’t know if that’s the proper call. He loves Caglianone, wants him in Kansas City sooner rather than later. Already Caglianone is taking to right field — “For having only done it for a couple weeks,” Picollo said, “it’s been pretty positive” — and the reasons for him not supplanting one of Kansas City’s outfielders dwindle by the day.
Sam McDowell examines when we’ll see Caglianone brought up.
But that judgment alone is all that matters — whether he is major-league ready, not whether the major-league team is ready for him.
“It’s not fair to any player, whether it’s Jac Caglianone or whoever, when a team may be scuffling offensively, to try to put it on him and hope he’s going to come save the day,” Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said Monday.
“The best way to break any player into the major leagues is to try to bring him up when the team’s hot offensively (and) scoring some runs.
“That’s not why he’s not coming up right now.”
Steve Adams at MLB Trade Rumors also writes about when Caglianone will be up.
Keith Law ranks the top 50 prospects in baseball with Caglianone at #13.
Caglianone has been incredible in his first full pro season, hitting .322/.394/.553 in Double A with a strikeout rate of just 21.1 percent, more than earning a promotion to Triple A. He’s made clear adjustments at the plate and he is destroying pitches in the zone, although he will still expand the zone too easily and I think if he came to the majors right now, pitchers would exploit that enough to make him struggle. I’m quite sanguine about his ability to make further adjustments and cut down enough on the chase to get to the big leagues this year. Between Caglianone and right-hander David Shields, who’s looked very good in three starts so far in the lowest levels, scouting director Brian Bridges’ first draft looks like a great one.
Jaylon Thompson has a mailbag column and answers whether the Royals should make a change at hitting coach.
I don’t think it’s fair to blame all of the Royals’ flaws on their hitting coaches. At some point, the Royals have to hit the baseball at a better clip.
The Royals have three hitting coaches on the payroll. They’ve helped multiple players make important strides. Garcia, for example, implemented a toe-tap in his stance during the offseason, at the behest of hitting coach Alec Zumwalt, and it has paid dividends.
The revised approach at the plate has helped Garcia stabilize his batting stance. Now he is having an All-Star type season. Zumwalt and fellow KC hitting coaches Keoni DeRenne and Joe Dillon continue to pore over film and find ways to help the lineup.
It’s up to the Royals themselves — the players — to hit the baseball. No coach can physically make that happen. It’s not on them to face 95 mph fastballs with movement. They can’t stand in the box and hit wicked sliders and curveballs.
He also writes about how a stint in the Caribbean League turned things around for Andrew Hoffmann.
David Lesky considers how long Noah Cameron stays in the rotation.
What do they do with him when both Seth Lugo and Cole Ragans come back? Well, first, we need to know when they’re coming back. It sounds like Lugo will take the mound tomorrow night against the Tigers, but that still leaves one rotation spot open and Ragans is going to need a rehab start or two. So the team doesn’t have to figure that out. But what they’re going to do, assuming everything goes well, is send Cameron to AAA.
I get that people aren’t going to like it because they could easily shift Lorenzen to the bullpen, but I get the thought. Again, I’ll dive deeper tomorrow on this, but they don’t have any starting pitching depth right now beyond Cameron.
Eric Longenhagen and James Fegan at Fangraphs rank the top Royals prospects.
This is a below-average system with one big fish at the very top, several high-variance hitters with hit tool risk, and a fair number of pitchers with starter-quality command. The Royals have pumped a ton of draft capital into high school pitching since the pandemic (Ben Hernandez, Frank Mozzicato, Ben Kudrna, Shane Panzini, Blake Wolters, Hiro Wyatt, David Shields, and a few mid-six-figure guys), totaling upwards of $15 million in bonuses, and while several of them are still prospects, none of them has really developed in a significant way. The risky selections of high school catchers might still work out. Blake Mitchell and Carter Jensen have big lefty power for young backstops, a demographic that notoriously takes longer to develop. Any attempts at diversifying risk via college player selections have gone awry because players like Gavin Cross, Asa Lacy, and some other mid-round draftees just haven’t panned out, or don’t look like they’re going to. Noah Cameron is an exception and should be a rotation mainstay for the next half decade.
Jonathan Shorman and Kacen Bayless write that the stadium saga could come to a head in June.
The Reds trade former All-Star closer Alexis Diaz to the Dodgers.
White Sox reliever Miguel Castro is out for the year with a knee injury.
The Yankees get their AL champion rings.
The Marlins will move Xavier Edwards to second base.
Should the Pirates trade Paul Skenes?
Camilo Doval is once again the Giants’ closer.
Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh is having an MVP season.
Clayton Kershaw isn’t what he was, but the Dodgers need him more than ever.
The Braves have hired federal lobbyists to avoid a potential $19 million tax bill.
MLB purchases an equity stake in the fledgling Athletes Unlimited Softball League.
College football is mulling a new format for the playoffs.
Patrick Mahomes will pass on playing Olympic flag football in 2028.
Are we in a sixth mass extinction?
The made-for-TV-movie was once a big deal, but it’s still here, just evolved.
Could there be spin-off ideas for Severance?
Your song of the day is Red Hot Chili Peppers with Can’t Stop.